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Friday, July 23, 2010

Fascinate Me

Figuring out the placement of my materials in the bathroom mirror, while wearing jammies. That's how I roll!

If you follow my Facebook page at all (and I hope you do), you'll know that I'm going through a bit of a hat obsession. I can't stop looking at them! There are so many beautiful headpieces out there - vintage, contemporary, couture. I've never been a hat-wearer myself . . . but no time like the present to start, right?

There's nothing more beautiful, I think, than a veiled hat. So I decided to dabble a bit in making some veiled fascinators, since that seemed like a good entree into the world of chapeaux. (You know, like a gateway drug for hats!)

I looked at some online tutorials (like this one) and they really demystify making little headpieces like this. It all seems very crafty, involving things like felt squares and glue guns. In other words: fun! So I went on an Etsy spree, and ordered some materials. I got a straw base and nude veiling from this seller, and she was fab - super fast shipping, even from the UK.

The trim I chose is a vintage millinery supply - velvet strawberries! (Purchased from this fantastic seller.)

I haven't actually put them together yet; I just started playing around with the placement while looking in the bathroom mirror. This is how Jeff found me before before bedtime last night:

I ordered the skin-toned veiling so it wouldn't compete with my glasses, but I feel like it might still be a bit too much muchness around my face. Might be time to place a contact lens order - sigh.

But I think this fascinator business is SO FUN, guys! I want to buy a bunch of feathers and flowers and ribbons and invite you all over for a slumber party and we can put stuff on our heads together! Afterward we'll watch old seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while eating cookies. Are you in?

Count me in! I will be making a fascinator for my daughter's wedding next year. So a jammie/crafting/Buffy (can we get the one with Hinton Battle?) party is just what I need. BTW the look is fabulous on you!MomO

Fascinators are a ton of fun to wear--if nothing else just for the heck of it! Funny you should mention millinery-making; I spent yesterday evening pouring over "From the Neck Up" and plotting a foray into making a little straw hat for myself. ;) lol. Can't wait to see what you come up with!!!

I'm totally in on the party--if only we could invent some way for me to travel that doesn't involve long/expensive flights! haha!

Ooh!Ooh!Ooh! I'm going to make a fascinator for my wedding too! I'm doing ivory accented with royal/sapphire blue because my engagement ring is a sapphire (although I still haven't actually got it yet, lol - but it should be made by now). So I'm thinking and ivory fascinator with that shade of blue flowers/feathers!

However, now you've got me thinking - we're going to a wedding in early Oct, I should make one to go with whatever fall-coloured dress I make!!!!

Also, you should totally check out this site/store:

http://www.lilliputhats.com/

They have lots more fascinators in their store, but are in Toronto (my hometown). Last time I was home I was in there trying some one to get ideas.

Another also: for great supplies you know about the Tinsel Trading Co in Manhattan, right? So lovely and delicious, my fave NY store!

It's a pity I'm nowhere near, or I'd be in! I, too, am fascinated by hats but hardly wear them. I find that my glasses are never a problem with fedora-type hats or classic brimmed lady's hats or those sun hats or felt ones with wide brims. They are however a problem with the lovely vintage veiled pillbox which I own. The veiling is supposed the fit rather tightly around the face, which makes wearing glasses nearly impossible and ridiculous looking. I've never tried a fashinator, expecting the same problem and the 'too much ado around my face'-thing you mention

I don't think the lace netting + glasses is too much at all, I think it looks just charming! Really cute, it makes you look like that brainy woman in the 1940s, the one who is the first woman in her town to get her PhD or something.

Hey! Like the other girls, I made something similiar for my wedding. I bought the veil (chin length french net) from the evil bridal big box store, then made a little thingie with ostrich feathers, vintage rhinestone buttons and a vintage brooch - like you, I wear black glasses, dark red lipstick. I couldn't STAND my glasses with the veil look - it just was too much. I left the glasses off for the day and liked it so much that I'm thinking of getting contacts. Lately I've been so drawn to lighter and brighter colors and fabrics and perhaps it's time (for me!) to put the black glasses on the shelf!

Also! The vintage strawberries are awesome! I have a hoarding tendency for vintage trims - lace, ribbon, net, whatever - I usually end up spending about $20 buying little bits and bobs when I'm in an antique shop - old hats are some of my favorites - here in Minneapolis, you can get a hat in not-so wearable shape, but with TONS of those awesome old velvet trimmings for about $12. I LOVE the colors of those velvet flowers and leaves! So pretty! And I'm not sure what it is, but the net on the vintage hats is so much more soft and delicate than anything I've seen available new.

Yay hats! One more story - I have a friend who wears hats and gloves pretty much all the time - in the fifteen years I've known her, I've only seen her hair maybe 3 times. People call her the hat lady around town - anyway - a few years ago she was asked to leave a jazz place in downtown Mpls (since closed down) because she wouldn't remove her hat and was violating their 'hat policy'!! Can you believe it??

Oooh, that looks fun to do and very pretty too! That fascinator-base was cleaver, always wonderd where one might find those...Think I will have to order some and give it a try...Thanx for the tip! (BTW, the "Blueprint"-book i wonderful, I look in it almost everyday! So thank you again for that!!)

There are still a few hatshops in the district where you can purchase all of these supplies and more. Some of them will even help you plan a hat. There is one right around the corner from M&J (same street as Tinsel Trading) that is just awesome. I have the card at home...will look at the info and get back to you.

I have been reading a lot about Claire McCardell since our trip to the Brooklyn Museum. She loved hats and had hundreds of them. Hats can really make an outfit. I hope to make a few deerstalkers for the fall. Vogue put out some good vintage hat patterns.

Buffy is my TV show of choice while sewing! Veronica Mars comes in a close second.

I'm there! Funnily enough I've been designing my own fascinator too (on one of those straw bases - from the same seller!). I just can't decide what to put on it - I toyed with using some vintage millinery cherries (I collect hats with cherries on, so it seemed an appropriate place to start), then I thought about flowers, then I thought about a big old ribbon rosette...

Oh, the pains we girls who love our glasses go through... the world will never know! My frames are black with white temple arms and I have a bobbed hair cut so I spend much time in front of mirrors trying to decide if what I want to put on my head is too much. (Especially when I have my eyes done up too.) I pretty much always decide that the glasses are part of my retro look (a modern take on the classic horn rimmed) and leave them on.

I don't believe I've actually ever opted for my contacts with headwear. I leave them for days when I REALLY play up my eyes, or want to accessorize with sunglasses. I actually bought black netting a few weeks ago to put on a fascinator and hadn't even thought about the color competing with my glasses. I'll have to pay special attention to that when I get around to sewing it up. However, hasn't the point of netting always been to be noticeable and make you a little mysterious?

Hi! Have you ever visited http://thehatshopnyc.com/ ? They have amazing hats and the cutest lady to tell you, "No, try one with a wider brim!" or "Your face was MADE for a fedora." It's right down the block from Hiroko's Place, where you can get Japanese American meatloaf! Squee!

Next time you want to make a hat check out Manny's Millinery Supply in Manhattan. They have been around since to old days of the garment district - a real throwback. they have everything you need, plus very knowledgeable staff. In the garment district - I think 38th street?Good luck hat-making!

I don't remember the title of a book I read on hats but the intro said (and I will never forgt it), "How to wear a hat? With aplomb, knowing you are absolutely right". I think that's the key to wearing hats. You must stop worrying about skin tone, glasses, placement on head - - and just have the confidence to stand out. Because in this day and age, wearing anything but a baseball cap and ponytail, you will get noticed. Not a fashion venture for the faint of heart. But I love my vintage hats - best collection ever!

I'm in!!!!! I love making hats. I made the one in my avatar pic. I just bought a couple vintage veiling at an antique fair... need to find some bases and I'll be ready to make some more hats! I love hats. I'm drawn to them. And with my hair growing out, it's becoming a necessary accessory.

If it wasn't so far to travel (I'm in the UK) I would so be there. I've wanted to have a go at these for ages and coupling that with Buffy and cookies is just too much. Damn when will they invent teleportation!

Hi, the fascinator looks great! I think it works with or without the glasses. Here's a link to some hat instructions, http://www.vintagesewing.info/1950s/52-hmh/hmh-intro.html and you can buy a reproduction of both of Ruby Carnahan's books if you Google her. I think the company is Dakota Prairie Treasures.

Love love Love it! But I say keep the glasses if you want. It adds something off-kilter to a dainty fascinator, you know? The contrast between the veil and the glasses just brings the focus even more to your eyes and face.

If everyone who loves hats just started wearing them - then they would certainly be fashionable again. I just completed a hat toile - small-scale, so that I could practice the sewing directions. It was gigantic Vogue 8213 - a grand sunhat - to protect my easily-scorched head.My favorite hat book of all time (which I think I saw advertised in the back of Victoria magazine in the 80's)is Denise Dreher's from the neck up. Now, thanks to your blog, I know where I can order some millinery supplies. This is really inspiring!

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Oh man Gertie, you turn me on to many things, now hat veils, which I'd be lying if I said I don't have an interest in them, but now you've made me brave to get crafty and try them out, and linkage to some awesome looking stores, Etsy is way too much fun :)

And I agree with others, wear your glasses proudly! (us blind people have got to stick together!)

I think that looks like so much fun! I sell flower fascinators in my etsy store, Thimble Kiss (http://thimblekiss.etsy.com) and have made a few with some lovely french veiling for brides, but the hat thing takes it to another level! I might have to experiment with that myself... complete with cookies and Buffy of course!

p.s. I've never ever worn hats (except playing softball that one time...) and I still think they look terrible on me. I think maybe I have a funny-shaped head. Anywho, perhaps fascinators are the best way to start? And if I understand them correctly, they are sheer decoration, no practical function? Maybe hiding blushing cheeks? Or a bad pimple? Perhaps a veil is one of those things you just have to get used to - like seeing yourself in curly hair and red lipstick without feeling silly.

I really like your glasses, but I think the picture of you without your glasses is so lovely. I wear glasses as well and sometimes I like the look of an outfit without mine. Either way-the hat is awesome!